Platoonmates
by Racingmenace
Summary: T-34 and his friends, T-70 and M5A1 Stuart all deal with the trivialities of life at Tank Academy, a school for all tanks. Thanks to that, the gang has to deal with a lot of strange and stupid occurrences while trying to keep their lives in check.
1. The Problems With Romance

T-34 was bored.

He has had nothing interesting to do all day and tomorrow was going to be even worse. Maybe. His best friend, T-70 was going to be in the same class as him tomorrow, in P.E. It would be the accuracy test, thankfully, shooting things was THE favourite thing that T-34 and T-70 could do. But still, T-34 was bored out of his little tank mind while the maths teacher babbled on about equations and other boring things like that, T-34 simply didn't care. He just wanted to learn tactics and to shoot straight, mainly because he lived for battling instead of sitting behind a desk being bored. That reminded him, he was bored.

It wouldn't be long before the lesson was over though, but it still felt like forever anyway. He looked at the other tanks in class, they were focused on the teacher's droning, a few of them were taking notes in their books hastily. T-34 Decided to take a look at his catchup worksheet and work on it, he was in enough trouble as it is without incomplete work clawing him down into even worse grades. Maybe if he passed this test the headteacher might not try and get all the teachers to hate him as much...

"Alright class, it's time to pack up." The maths teacher said loudly, his gaze came over to T-34, whom was finishing up the last sums on his paper.

"How is that paper doing, T-34?" He asks quietly as he comes over to T-34's desk.

"Pretty much done, sir." T-34 was finishing his sheet as quickly as he possibly could in order to turn it over and get out of the classroom quicker

"Good, good, let's hope you got some great answers in there or else." said KV-5 quickly and threateningly. He took the work quickly and trailed off to his desk, muttering quietly about some freak of nature he had to deal with earlier.

An air raid siren sounded and all of the tanks hopped up and scrambled towards the door as quickly as they could. T-34 was one of the first to hurl himself out, due to his rather quick speed. He decided to go and drive over to his friends usual meeting place, in a shaded area of the field. When he got there, he found T-70 and his friend, M5A1 Stuart discussing scouting tactics as well as counter-scouting tactics (He assumed.)

"Hi guys." T-34 greeted his friends warmly, as if they had just come over for Christmas dinner.

"Hey, T-34! How are you?" T-70 replied, just as warmly as T-34 greeted him.

"I'm fine, thanks." T-34 answered "Hi M5A1 Stuart."

"Hey man." M5A1 replied quickly.

Then, T-70 decided to turn around and look into the field and survey the environment, contemplating asking his friends about loading some training shells and doing a battle scenario when he spots a tank that makes his engine nearly give up trying to function because of his immediate infatuation with her.

"Hey, err, T-70? You all right?" M5A1 Stuart asked hesitantly, wondering why T-70 was murmuring like he had gotten access to a butt-ton of alcohol.

"That... Blue tank..." T-70 said quietly, almost like he was half awake "Over there..." he marked out the small little thing that looked like it was talking to a Marder II.

"Wow, T-70, you're seriously pulling THIS again?!" M5A1 Stuart remarked

"So... Beautiful..."

"What's wrong with me?!" M5A1 Stuart cried out, her engines roaring due to frustration and sadness.

"Cheer up M5A1, hey, I might even date you if I were a scout... (Or a little nuts...)" T-34 consoled M5A1 Stuart, hoping she didn't hear the last few words.

"It looks like a Tank Destroyer..." Said T-70, lovestruck "Maybe I should say hi..."

"Not likely she'll da-" M5A1 started, before being cut off by the siren.

"OH COME ON!" T-70 shouts in disappointment, barely audible over the loud siren.

"Better luck next time." T-34 said to a rather upset T-70.

"Maybe she'll be in Type 59's class." Said T-70, hoping.

"Don't count on it." Remarked M5A1, still a little upset from her romantic predicament. "Anyway, see ya later T-34."

"Bye" T-34 replied, rolling off to art class.

T-34 felt a little jealous of his friends, for they got more lessons he liked than he did. As he wheeled his way to class, he saw an American tank. It had strange floral patterns on it, which makes it stick out like a spotted artillery when it's the last on the team. This was strange to T-34. Why paint patterns on yourself if they're going to make you more visible? He pushed that question to a dark corner of his mind when he saw something that angered him to no end. A bully who kept taking the mick out of the floral tank.

T-34 decided against intervening when he saw that the bully was only a mere youngling and that the victim was rather large. He was going to be late if he didn't get to class quickly, randomly stopping to gawk at scenes was not on his to-do list.

T-34 finally managed to get to class on time, so he got straight down to work. He started on a painting of one of his favourite areas, Fiery Salient. T-70 liked to take T-34 and M5A1 to there when there weren't any battles going on, just to hang out and play hide and seek in the bushes. Thinking back to his work, he realized that his art wasn't actually that good, but still, he did put his soul into it. The picture depicted a IS tank taking on a bunch of ARL44s, shells were bouncing off in different directions. The IS' gun was firing in great shades of orange and yellow, a shell was hurled towards an angled ARL44.

The class was nearly over, and T-34 was putting the finishing touches on his piece of art. A small British tank rolled over and stared at the painting, it seemed amazed at the modest work in front of it.  
>"Wow, this is AMAZING!" The tiny tank exclaimed in a rave of excitement. "Do you do this for a living? 'Cause you're great at this!" T-34 turned his turret around and saw the astonished little machine, it was a Cruiser IV.<br>"You really think it's that good?" Asked T-34, overwhelmed by the apparent greatness of his painting.

"Heck yeah! I've been doing this sort of thing for years now and I still can't get a result like that!" It replied, awestruck of T-34s work.

"Seriously?" T-34 said back, not sure of the honesty of this Cruiser IV.

"Seriously, my good man!" T-34 was taken aback by the Cruiser's figure of speech.

"Well, I don't know what to say." T-34 started "I'm just glad that someone other than me likes what I done."

"Trust me, it's great, my fine sir, but I must finish my work." Cruiser IV said before quickly but carefully driving away, back to his station.

The siren sounded and everyone subsequently started cleaning up their stations and rolling out of the door for home time, T-34 decided to try and find T-70 on his way home to Ruskie. T-34 drove for the route that he and his friends usually take, wondering if he would be able to find T-70 and have a chat with him about this 'green tank destroyer' in hopes he would come to his senses. T-34 drove down a few hallways to find T-70, going about his business trying to get home. T-70 didn't seem too lovestruck or anything else like that, so T-34 decided to roll up next to him.

"I know what you're going to say." T-70 started, sounding rather stern.

"What, that it's the thirteenth tank you've fell in love with this year?" T-34 retaliated sharply.

"I love her, T-34. Don't deny me that. This is real!" T-70 replied angrily.

"Dude, you don't even know what she's like! Anyway, she looks way outta your league, friend."

"What? Just 'cause she was chatting to a Marder II!"

"Anyway, she looks like she fell out of some silly story about our school."

"I don't care, tomorrow I'll introduce myself to her."

"Pff, she's so damn elusive you'll probably never find her!"

"Oh, shut up. Let's just get home before those twits with their silly 122millimetre guns come and get us."

"Fine with me, comrade."

They went their separate ways. T-34 was thinking about M5A1 and her... Undying problems... Yeah, he liked her, but not enough to make him ask her out. He fought that silly thought out of his mind and powered on in general direction of his home. The roads were winding and complicated, they were even more complicated with the gangs of KV-1S' screwing up Ruskie's roads. Eventually, T-34 managed to find his sweet, sweet home and he made his way through the door.

"Ah, your back son." T-34's dad, ST-1, welcomed him back. "How was your day?"

"Nothing unusual happened, dad." T-34 replied warmly. He shuffled about and was about to go upstairs when his dad called him down.

"Your mother is rather unwell, she is asleep upstairs." He said informatively to T-34 "Please be quiet when you're upstairs, okay?"

"Okay." T-34 sounded a little upset, he really didn't like it when his mother was sick last time, she nearly died. He hoped it wasn't that bad this time.

"Don't worry, it's only a cold." His father wasn't a liar, that's for sure, but he could still be wrong...

T-34 crept up the stairs and went into his room, he picked up a magazine called 'Proscout'. Proscout was an old magazine that was discontinued due to disagreements within the company, it was recommended to him by M5A1 because it contained tactics relevant to mediums as well as lights. T-34 tossed the magazine aside, he had read it many times before and wished there was something new to read, he had heard that the internet had loads of great websites for his interests. T-34 wondered if he could get a track-top for Christmas or something, mainly because he didn't have a computer his entire life. He decided to write his list tomorrow, because he was tired out. Turing off his light, T-34 hopped onto his bed and went to sleep.


	2. Lots of Bad Things

T-34 woke up with a start. He couldn't stop thinking about the chat he had with T-70 last night, he was freaked out a little bit. Having strange dreams. They would fade from his memory after a while, so he pushed them away from his current thoughts. Since T-34 didn't even eat anything yesterday he was pretty hungry, so he went downstairs and grabbed himself some fuel and a bar of _go fast _energy food. It wasn't the best diet, but it kept him going.

His dad came down the stairs and got himself a pack of _special cog_, some fuel, two bowls and spoons. He poured the breakfast cereal and fuel into the bowls, putting the spoons in.

"Honey! Breakfast's ready!" he shouts as he takes his bowl away to the living room. With a quiet, but audible groan, T-54 started to come down the stairs slowly. T-34 picked up his mum's breakfast and gave it to her as she got to the bottom of the stairs, before going to the living room.

"What do you have for school today, son?"ST-1 asked, hoping to make good conversation.

"Err... History... P.E... And Advanced Tactics." T-34 answered before eating his energy bar.

"Ha. History, you seriously don't like that topic, do you?" T-54 said, before taking her spoon and swirling it in her breakfast.

"Oh, by the way..." ST-1 voiced "Your art teacher called, she said that your work was brilliant!"

"What?" T-34 uttered in disbelief "It's brilliant?!"

"Yes, she said she was going to copy it and hang it up in her classroom!"

"I cannot believe that it was _that_ good."

"Apparently it is, son." ST-1 was getting a little calmer "You should bring a copy home for us to see."

"That would be nice." T-54 said, a little cheerfully.

"Okay. Will do." T-34 assured, sounding dependable and joyful.

"Also, it's time to go to school." ST-1 announced to T-34, who was getting ready to go anyway.

"All-right, bye!"T-34 said as he left his home behind, to go to his personal hell. Not even RNGesus could save him there. At least he had friends to talk to and play with, nothing can deny him that privilege.

* * *

><p>T-34 was late. Again. But he had stopped caring about being late long ago when he realized; <em>I hate history. Also, my teacher <em>_has a go at me__ if __I'm__ late __or not__either __way! _Finishing his internal rant, T-34 rolled into the maze-like corridors of Tank Academy. Finding his way around the place was trying to find a working light switch in a pitch-black mansion, but, he still managed to get to class without too many problems.

"Ah, T-34. Finally. Please take your seat." Tiger I greeted him harshly as T-34 took his seat next to M5A1 Stuart, who had her atlas and several other books piled up on her desk.

"Okay, class..." Tiger I began in a monotone voice "Today we will be learning about the great artillery nerf of 8.6." T-34 stopped caring almost immediately about the already well known topic, no-one here liked artillery. So why would they care?

"Sir?" A KV-1 asked "What's that 8.6 stand for?"

"It is one of the ways scientists keep track of our ever-changing world." Tiger I answered in a mildly irritated tone. This statement held enough power to rise some 'Oh.'s and other related sounds, but they weren't very loud. T-34 zoned out a bit after that, the lessons Tiger I did were not very fun or interesting. It surprised T-34 that some tanks came out of this academy with degrees and all that, he knew that he didn't have a single chance of getting one nor did he want one.

T-34 looked at M5A1, who seemed to be very interested in the lesson for some reason unknown to T-34. He checked the clock that was hovering over some silly map that depicted Europe during one of the largest battles in history. The time told him that the lesson was soon going to be over. T-34 decided to pay attention to the failing lecture, which consisted of some weird deficiency in newborn artilleries or something like that.

"This strange birth defect affected nearly every artillery born at the time, and stillborns suddenly started appearing instead of living tanks. Artillery counts started dropping at an alarming rate." Tiger I droned on before being interrupted by a quivering A-20.

"Sir?" he said, fear in his voice audible

"What!?" Tiger I voiced angrily, he hated being interrupted.

"W-what was t-t-the birth defect?" A-20 squeaked hesitantly

"The guns of the newborns became naturally inaccurate and loaded horribly slowly, this defect managed to get into older artillery as well somehow." Tiger I replied menacingly toward the horribly scared A-20, who was visibly shaking now.

The Siren sounded off and all of the tanks immediately started putting things away as quickly as they could, they all wanted a long break so they could socialize and play. T-34 was one of the first out, but he decided to wait around a bit for the A-20. He wanted to know why the A-20 was so upset. Eventually the A-20 peeked itself out of the door and started driving until T-34 stopped him.

"AHHH! P-please don't hurt me!" he shrieked, visibly crying now.

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you." T-34 tried to put on a soft and soothing voice, but he wasn't good at it.

"Oh... O-okay..." A-20 mumbled quietly.

"Why are you so afraid of... everything..."

"T-the d-doctor said I have p-panphobia..."

"What's that?"

"T-the fear of everything."

"Oh... Oka-"

"There's also the f-fact that my d-d-dad is an artillery... It d-didn't help..."

"Well, err... I don't know what to say..."

"Oi!" A menacing voice yelled out "A-20, who's that? Yer new boyfriend?"

"G-go away D-D" A-20 was cut off by T-34.

"Let me deal with this scum-bag." He said, just loud enough for the aggressor to hear.

"Who you calling 'scum-bag' you... Scum-bag!" It said, its thick German accent becoming apparent. T-34 forgot one thing, he didn't have any shells loaded. Oh well, ram him into submission!

"URAHHHHHH!" T-34 charged valiantly towards the German tank quickly, picking up speed. T-34 smashed into his enemy at about forty-three kilometres per hour, he only just realized that he was going up against a tank that equalled his size. Even though T-34 took some damage, he stood his ground against the now scared bully. Deciding it had enough, the bully ran off as quickly as it could. T-34 looked back to a quivering A-20, Driving himself over, the A-20 looked up to him.

"T-thank you." He said quietly.

"No problem, anyways, who was that?" T-34 asked, wishing for an identity.

"It was D-DW2." A-20 explained "he's always mean to me."

"Okay, I'll be off now. Stay safe." T-34 drove away from the A-20, who looked at him, then drove off in a different direction.

* * *

><p>M5A1 Stuart had had enough. She was already annoyed with T-70, but she nearly blew up when the artillery of all things rammed her! That stupid cream thing just sat there, probably insulting her with its mind! Making her way toward the field, she nearly bumped into another tank. She was about to start tearing apart its ability to hear before she realized it was her friend, T-34. This still annoyed her though. She noticed the dents in his frontal armour.<p>

"Oh, sorry M5A1. Didn't see you there." He apologized, expecting a response.

"Dammit T-34... I'm mega aggro right now." M5A1 angrily responded

"Was it _that_ arty?" T-34 asked.

"Well, yeah it was! There's only one in this damned building!" M5A1 shouted, her exhaust pipes spat out a little flame.

"Okay, Okay I'm sorry." T-34 tried to calm her down, if she kept up like this, there's no telling what she could do. "Look, you wanna go for a drive?"

"Ugh, fine." M5A1 could probably go burn off some steam by thrashing T-34 in a race, that'd be funny.

The two tanks drove across the bumpy field and T-34 was expecting M5A1 to say something, but she didn't. That was unusual for M5A1, normally she'd be complaining about something or discussing battle tactics. But she wasn't doing any of those things, she seemed relaxed and happy. This made T-34 both happy and weirded out, because he managed to make M5A1 feel peaceful for once. M5A1 turned her turret and looked at him.

"Hey, can we stop for a minute?" She asked.

"Okay, it's not like we're in a race or anything." He spoken with apparent content. He stopped and basked in the sunlight before looking around for T-70. Surely he has given up on finding that little green thing? If he hadn't, maybe his love is genuine? Maybe the way he reacted was because he _actually _loved her? "_Why am I thinking about this?"_ T-34 asked his strained tank brain. He was worrying to much.

"Hey, T-34 you slowpoke! Wanna race?" T-34s thoughts were cut in half by the request from M5A1.

"Err..." He was confused, why was she so happy?

"Okay, Let's go on one! We finish when we get to the top of the hill!" She announced, pointing her gun in the general direction of a random hill.

"Okay, challenge accepted." T-34 said competitively. He knew he was going to lose, but he may as well try and finish as close as he can to M5A1.

"Three!" M5A1 bellowed as T34 revved his engine.

"Two!" T-34s exhaust spat some flames while making a fairly loud 'pop' sound.

"One!"

Both tanks blasted off the starting line, their engines roaring with might as they pushed themselves to their limit. T-34 was going as fast as his track could carry him but M5A1 was just much more faster, M5A1 Stuart was pulling away. They neared the hill quickly. T-34 was aiming for the least steep climb while M5A1 Stuart hit a steep part of the hill, greatly reducing her speed. T-34 took advantage of this and kept most of his momentum while going up the hill, going 25 kilometres per hour. M5A1 Stuart was catching up and was nearly about to pass T-34, whose engine had started making strange noises and sputtering. M5A1 Stuart made it to the top of the hill, whooping and cheering, she turned around and saw T-34, who was on fire with failure. _Wait..._

"T-34! What... What's..." She was dumbfounded, how is T-34 on fire? Was this her fault? Then, M5A1 Stuart remembered something. Something T-34 was talking about a few days ago.

* * *

><p><em>T-34 came out of the garage, with a sparkly paint job and an air of confidence around him.<em>

"_How did it go?" Asked T-70 and M5A1 Stuart excitedly._

"_Fine, my new engine has also been fitted with a removed speed governor. I've been told to drive easily for about two weeks or so, though." T-34 responded with clarity._

"_Cool!" T-70 exclaimed enthusiastically._

"_Next!" A voice shouted from the garage..._

* * *

><p>M5A1 Stuart hurled herself at the blazing engine deck of T-34, the flames licked at M5A1 Stuarts panicked optics. She couldn't put the fire out on her own, she didn't have a fire extinguisher on her either. She only had one option.<p>

"HELP!" M5A1 Stuart screeched as loud as she possibly could "SOMEONE'S ON FIRE!" She repeated these pleads for help while driving about the field in random directions, she was beginning to lose hope for saving her friend. M5A1 Stuart looked toward T-34, his paint beginning to get smothered in black. She burned with despair and determination, there had to be a way. Looking around again, she saw a tank that looked just like T-34. It was smaller than T-34 in nearly every single way, it even had the same paint job. M5A1 Stuart rushed towards it.

"H-hey, I heard someone calling for help" Said the look-alike, it seemed terrified.

"Do you have a fire extinguisher?" Her exausted and panicked voice still managed to make sense to the little look-alike.

"Yeah..." It said quietly.

"Then follow me!"


	3. Recovery

"Doctor! Doctor! He's waking up!" T-34 stirred while a nurse was in front of him, he decided to be silent.

"Oh, shut up Hopkins!" Another voice shouted "You better not be all radio rental again!"

"Come over and 'ave a look then!"

"I'm trying to get some work done!"

"I'm not messin' with ya! The T-34's stirrin'!"

"Fine! I'll have a sodding look!" A strange tank appeared in front of T-34's blurry vision. It seemed to turn and look at him.

"Bloody hell, he is awake!" It said, before turning its turret back to the nurse tank. "Well, I guess I apologize then, Hopkins!" The nurse tank beamed. T-34 had enough, he tried to speak, but couldn't. Instead, he just mumbled.

"Don't worry if you can't speak, we just pumped you full of drugs!" The nurse tank said, T-34 panicked a little.

"Dammit, Hopkins! We only gave the poor thing some painkillers!" The doctor tank yelled at 'Hopkins' with a booming voice. "Don't worry there, err, T-34! You'll be right as rain in no time!" T-34 was probably hallucinating or something... He decided to try and speak again.

"Wthh upth whithh my shighgh?" He said as best he could, barely even making sense to himself, let alone the Nurse and the Doctor.

"What did you say, chap?" The Doctor questioned T-34 with impatience.

"I think he said 'What's up with my sight?' sir!" Voiced 'Hopkins'

"Well, tell him I said it's a side effect, Hopkins!"

"He speaks English you buffoon!"

"Could've fooled me!"

"Dzhhhhhhh." T-34 tried to say 'duh' but somehow failed. This attempt at speech launched an awkward silence that lasted for about ten agonizing seconds.

"Is he still on the drugs?" The Doctor questioned again.

* * *

><p>T-70 looked and looked but still couldn't find his love-at-first sight. This annoyed him to no end, how is this little blue thing so good at hiding from him? Not even considering admitting defeat, T-70 started looking into every nook and cranny of the academy he could get access to. Eventually, he caught a glimpse at a blue tank. Immediately ecstatic, T-70 drove over to the blue tank. It was larger that he expected though, anyway, he tried to get its attention.<p>

"Uh, erm... Hello?" he said, awkwardness leaking out of his voice at extreme amounts.

"What do you want, whelp?" Noooope, not the voice T-70 was hoping for. T-70 had to leave the general area, he was drowning in the liquid awkwardness created by his presence. He decided to be honest.

"Err... Sorry, wrong tank. Bye!" T-70 mumbled before turning and driving away as quick as he could. He could hear his acquaintance grumble and move on.

Even though he had searched everywhere in the academy, T-70 had still not found his target yet! Deciding to give up for now, T-70 wanted to find T-34 so he could get the group together and do some target practice. This was all cut short when M5A1 Stuart crashed into him, nearly knocking him on his side.

"Whoah! Hey! Stop!" T-70 blabbered while M5A1 Stuart realized what just happened. She reversed quickly, letting the scared light tank down. "What's going on, comrade?" He asked patiently.

"Nothing, just... A little distracted is all!" M5A1 Stuart made an easy to see through lie, she didn't sound convincing.

"Don't lie to me, I can tell." T-70 said with an informative tone.

"Damn, I am wúyòng at lying..." M5A1 Stuart blabbered with worry in tone.

"What?" T-70 could clearly not understand what M5A1 Stuart was saying.

"I meant... Oh, Whatever! You caught me out!" M5A1 Stuart was nearly shouting now. Something was clearly wrong.

"Is something wrong?" T-70 asked as soothingly as he could. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes and no." She answered quickly "T-34 has err... Been hospitalized..."

"WHAT?!" T-70 shouted, he was the one worrying now "WHAT HAPPENED?!"

"GIVE ME A MINUTE AND I'LL SAY SO, OKAY?!" T-70 squeaked, he had never shouted at M5A1 Stuart before. He thought her pure voice alone could send him to the moon.

"You know the engine T-34 bought a few days ago? Apparently something in there went haywire or something and he... Kinda set on fire." T-70 nearly exploded in shock, he always had a damned fire extinguisher on him, just in case anything like that happened!

"Is he okay?" T-70 inquired, his voice was clear, as if unaffected by the event that had happened

"I... I don't know yet. I was took into the hospital with T-34, then they told me to leave and come back later." M5A1 Stuart's usual confident voice came back "They said that he'll be fine. I don't trust them though."

"Then we should check up on him then!" T-70 exclaimed with a little excitement, he was sure T-34 was perfectly fine. It couldn't have been _that _bad, could it?

* * *

><p>"Frankly, T-34, you should have died on that field. But you pulled through somehow, this is a great achievement for medical science you know?" T-34 was almost giddy, he cheated death? Pfff. T-34 felt he was a weak tank, but apparently he can pull through when his betters can't? The doctor had to be exaggerating his injuries.<p>

"I don't know... This could be a one in whatever-illion chance of happening, perhaps?" T-34 didn't want to die, for sure, but there is no way he didn't die out on that field. When you know that even great tanks like IS-7s have died so easily to the same thing you survived, you know you should have died.

"Actually, even we don't even know about that. But it happened, so it _is_ possible." The doctor tank, Centurion 7/1, sounded sincere and trustworthy. He seemed to shift his attention away from T-34 for a moment, before saying "Sorry, I have to go now. I will check up on you in three hours." The centurion promptly left.

T-34 was sort of glad the Centurion 7/1 left, sure, he meant well but he sure as hell didn't mind talking his patients to death. Now, T-34 was left to his own thoughts and questions. Where are his friends? Are they worrying about him? What about his family? What is the bill going to be like, if there is one? One question rolled and rolled onto another without answer or relent. It was scrambling T-34s tired mind. He stopped his flow of questions for a minute or two and just basked in the silence.

Suddenly, his peaceful silence was forcefully interrupted by two engine noises. They were getting closer and closer and closer, T-34 started paying attention to what was making the noises. He recognized them, but couldn't put a name on them. T-34 hoped it wasn't those idiotic 'Doctor Tanks'

again, 'Hopkins' annoyed him the most though. He seemed so smug, always keeping in time with his idiotic friend in their silly double-act.

Then he saw them, T-70 and M5A1 Stuart. Usually, M5A1 Stuart held the responsibility of starting the conversation, but she didn't.

"Hi, guys." T-34 was still weak, so his voice seemed devoid of happiness or any other emotion other than sad and dying. T-70 perked up, he was always happy to see the ones he cared about okay.

"Glad to see you, comrade!" T-70 replied in his usual happy tone that always made T-34 chuckle a little.

"How do I look?" T-34 asked, expecting T-70 to answer immediately.

"You look great! As fresh as a daisy chain I'd say!" T-34 was pretty sure that T-70 was lying, but his poor gun depression forced him to take T-70s word.

"I'm sorry." M5A1 Stuart mumbled quietly "This is all my fault." T-34 was shocked, he already knew that M5A1 Stuart took things to heart. But most of the time when she said things about certain events the statements were normally grounded in reality. This time though, M5A1 Stuart was not thinking straight.

"Come on, don't be like that!" T-34 tried to comfort M5A1 Stuart as best he could, but it would take a lot more than that to take her off course. "None of this was your fault." She looked like she was going to burst, almost writhing with pure emotion. M5A1 Stuart relaxed a little, Then a little bit more. Mumbling a bit, she readied herself to speak.

"Okay..." M5A1 Stuart squeaked, before regaining her composure "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling fi-"

T-34 was interrupted by two other tanks rolling up to him, it was 'Hopkins' and his supposed superior. Great. Like T-34 needed more torture in his damned life.

"Yes, everything's fine. Now give us some time to chat, ocean pearl." The lead doctor tank pushed M5A1 Stuart away, who was hurling expletives constantly at him. "You're nearly ready to go, sir! We'll arrange for your parents to pick you up tomorrow at thirteen-hundred hours!" 'Hopkins' decided he wanted to speak now, so he drove up to T-34 and said:

"Is there anything you wanted to know about what happened while you were out?"

"Yes, what was happening while I was being pulled in for operation?" T-34 asked with a tone of command in his voice.

"We were certain you were brown bread sir, we didn't think you'd even make it to the operation, let alone out of it." 'Hopkins' sounded a little disheartened, but carried on "But this little mother of pearl over here-" He gestured towards M5A1 Stuart, who had given up on trying to get back in the conversation and started to talk with T-70. "Kept having a right go at us. Even though we told her that you'd probably kick the bucket before even going on the operating table, she badgered us until we decided to have it her way. The operation was a great success, now we're here having this absolutely riveting conversation!"

"Wow... Just wow..." T-34 was nearly speechless, he was so close to death, but his friend never lost hope. The doctors both drove back and were about to go.

"Sorry sir, but we must go attend another patient. Goodbye!" The lead doctor left the room, quickly followed after by 'Hopkins'. They nearly immediately started arguing when their attention was no longer diverted to T-34. T-34 tried to move, he found that his engine output was the same as before. _Good._

Deciding to hop off his bed, T-34 found that he was fully mobile and felt fine despite just coming off of some serious getting the go-ahead from a nurse, T-34 rolled up to T-70 and M5A1 Stuart and asked them if they wanted to go wander for a bit. They all agreed on going to the hospital garden, it was apparently nearly devoid of patient and nurse alike. While on their way there, T-34 decided to go a bit slower than he normally would. 'Just in case.' he said jokingly. Finally, T-34, T-70 and M5A1 Stuart found their way to the fluorescent garden.

"So... T-34..." T-70 mentioned "What was it like?"

"W-what?" T-34 stammered in a silly tone "What was what like?"

"Nearly dying?" M5A1 Stuart said before T-70 could.

"I... Do not know... Really crap?" T-34 said before laughing a little, trying to keep the tone of the conversation light.

"Okay." M5A1 Stuart said before staring into the patch of bright flowers in front of her.

"Don't be so depressing, M5A1 Stuart! You're killing me!" T-70 spoke to M5A1 Stuart in a mocking tone.

"Okay, sorry..." She said before chuckling a little "I didn't mean to fire my depression ray at you." T-70 and T-34 laughed a little bit, at least their spirits were up.

"Good, but now you've got to stop pointing it at yourself, friend." T-70 kept his cool while M5A1 Stuart's turret turned towards him. "Just saying."

"Yeah, I guess I should stop with that..." She said, putting on a mildly joyful tone.

"Who are you and what have you done to the real M5A1 Stuart?!" T-34 asked in mock anger.

"I'm me, by the way, I'd probably die if was any nicer." She replied quickly.

"Pfff, you're too young to die." T-70 told her in a disapproving voice "That means we'll have to deal with you for a fair while!"

"Ha, RNGesus would probably nail me with the artillery shell of karma." M5A1 Stuart was nearly giggling now.

"Speaking of artillery..." T-34 started "Has anyone talked to it or seen it?"

"No, but I have heard that his name is Birch Gun." T-70 stated.

"How did you find that out? Stalking the 'love of your life'?" M5A1 Stuart teased T-70 with a cheeky tone.

"How would you know? Are you stalking me?" T-70 retorted in an equally cheeky tone.

"What? Would you be offended?" M5A1 Stuart struck back the figurative ball with the racket of awkward.

"If I didn't know better, I would see you two as married!" T-34 had caught the figurative ball and hurled it into a different court. Both tanks stopped with their match and stared at T-34, then they looked at each-other and marked their loss.

"We just got owned." T-70 said in defeat.

"Yep." M5A1 Stuart replied.

A bell rang, and a voice appeared on the P.A.

"Visiting hours are over, all visitors please make their way to the exit. Thank you!"

"Well, we have to go. See you later, T-34!" M5A1 Stuart announced before dragging T-70 away, out of the general area of T-34. Now he was alone.


	4. Three Perspectives

_T-34 was surrounded. Surrounded by his new mortal enemy; fire. He couldn't move without being attacked by the rampant flame. He couldn't help but tremble when the fire started getting closer, licking at his sides. Trying not to panic, T-34 tried to think of a way to get out of this predicament, this nightmare. He couldn't think of anything, other than melting in terror. Realizing that the fire was getting even closer, T-34 knew that there was nothing he could do now._

_Finally, the fire engulfed him; it swallowed him up like fresh dinner. T-34 felt his consciousness slipping, but not in the usual way of slipping off into sleep, no, it was... Different. T-34 quickly regained his strained thought process when he found himself in a familiar place. He was on the road to Tank Academy!_

_Driving up the road, T-34 found the entrance to Tank Academy. It was a mess; the gate was shot up, hanging off its hinges. The wall holding what was left of the gate was covered in Halloween décor and was coated in shell-holes too. 'This is very strange...' T-34 thought to himself, quite perplexed by the scenery that surrounded him. _

_Having enough, T-34 turned around his turret. He could not believe what he saw. T-70 and M5A1 Stuart sat there, their armour taking similarities to the wall, which was also having shell-holes in their relatively untouched armour "H-hello?" T-34 started. "Guys? S-stop staring at me. It's... It's creeping me out." They didn't respond, so T-34 tried to drive past them. He felt their cold stares penetrate his armour, into his soul. "Please! Just stop with that... That damned staring!" His shouting was harsh, but he couldn't take it any more._

_As soon as he shouted his plea, the two tanks faded away. T-34 turned his turret around, checking for anything else that wanted to turn him into stone or something. He found something that seemed to be already turned into a stone. Rolling over to it, T-34 found it was a tombstone. It was coated in what appeared to be simplified Chinese, T-34 didn't know how he knew that, but he did. There were three flowers, dead and rotting, on the foot of the gravestone. Armed with the insanely limited knowledge of Chinese, T-34 tried to read the gravestone. Before he could try and decipher the language, T-34 was hurled back into the real world..._

"Hey! You! T-34 thing!" A French tank was in front of T-34; he could tell because of its extremely thick accent. For some reason, T-34 found its turret to resemble a duck of some sort. "Wake up! You are going home today!"

"What? What are you-" T-34 was completely dumbfounded, he couldn't think clearly after his... Nightmare? Definitely nightmare. Well, he was in a new nightmare now.

"Hopkins!" It screeched, blowing out T-34's capacity to hear things. "Get over here, crumpet boy!" The French tank scooted off, trying to find 'Hopkins' and, possibly, his idiot superior.

It wasn't long before more annoyance returned, in the form of 'Hopkins'. "Hello there, lad!" He said, grating at T-34's patience already. "You're returning home today, your parents have arrived to pick you up." So, T-34 drove groggily off of his hospital bed and made his way through the busy and cramped halls of the hospital. Eventually, after going through what seemed like endless corridors, T-34 and 'Hopkins' happened upon 'Hopkins' superior. "Ah! Morning Terrance!" 'Hopkins' said happily. _'Hopkins' superior is called 'Terrance'? Really?_ T-34 thought that the world was coming to an end. Idiots of this proportion had to signal some mass extinction event or something.

"Morning, fellow." 'Terrence' replied "Our schedule is rather tight today, so we must act sharpish!"

The group of tanks moved down the quite large A&E corridor before getting interrupted by a silly sounding yell. "Gawrsh!" T-34 couldn't react before getting slammed into by a tank that was driving a trolley covered in medical supplies. It was an American Lend-Lease tank, a rather dumb one to be sure. "Sowwy! I did a dumb!" It apologized, Hopkins turned his turret towards the dumb thing.

"M3 Grant! Look where you're goin' next time! Dear T-34 and I nearly died of shock!" He said, apparently scared by the silly little medium.

"Look, Hopkins, we need to get a move on!" Terrance said before driving off. 'Hopkins' and T-34 drove off, following him and leaving the M3 Grant to clean up the mess of tools and other items that had spilt onto the floor.

"I... I don't think we should have left that... Thing back there; it seemed it could hardly keep itself in check, let alone a trolley filled to the brim with things." T-34 said, worried of the M3 Lee's mental capability.

"No worries about that little lark." 'Terrance' began, "He's only going to be here for a day or two and he'll be back in the local academy!" He looked at T-34, who nodded to show that he understood.

Finally arriving at the reception, T-34 saw his parents for the first time in what felt like two years. He pretty much just launched himself at them, almost crashing into a bin that just happened to be next to T-54. "Hello, son!" T-54 said, she sounded a lot healthier that she did before.

"Hello mother! Hi father!" T-34 replied energetically, well, as energetically as he could anyway.

"We were wondering where you were!" Said ST-1, who also possessed his wife's tone of speech, which was one of happiness.

It wasn't long before T-34 was out of that horrid hospital and out in the bright environment that surrounded it, he loved the feeling of being in a huge sprawling landscape instead of lurking inside a small room painted with boring. Finally, T-34 went through the door of his house. He felt brand new, as if he'd just appeared into his own personal heaven with happiness and cupcakes. Except there wasn't a cupcake to be found. Only questions.

"Son, I have to ask you..." ST-1 started, "How did you end up in hospital anyway?" T-34 turned to his father, thought for a second, then spoke.

"I ended up with an engine fire," He recalled. "I... Um... Had a fire extinguisher handy though. The school nurse sent me to hospital just to check that I was... Okay." His voice sounded uncertain, T-54 picked up on that.

"T-34, are you sure that's the truth you're telling us?" She said, her days of constant interrogating came through and T-34 realized that.

"Err..." T-34 knew that he wouldn't be able to get away from the suspicion with more lies, so he admitted it. "Gah. No. It's not the truth"

"Well, tell us what actually happened. We wont be mad. What happened, happened, okay?" T-34 nodded with his gun.

"Okay, erm... I was racing my friend, M5A1 Stuart. I guess I pushed my engine too hard or something and I set on fire. I didn't know what happened after that, because I was unconscious. Apparently when the fire was put out, I was dragged all the way to hospital. They said that I would not be able to be saved, saying that I'd die on the way to the operation or in progress, but M5A1 Stuart pushed them to do what they could. I woke up after that and had some rest-up time within the hospital. Now we're here." T-34 spoke bluntly, cheating death may have been an incredible experience but it sure as hell wasn't fun.

T-54 and ST-1 were frozen, their son nearly died without them even knowing? Thinking about the whole idea made them lock up, worry and anxiety rushed up into them and nearly burst out of them, but they kept their cool. "Well, welcome back to the land of the living." ST-1 joked, T-34 and T-54 laughed a little. The tension that surrounded them cooled.

"We're glad to have you back, T-34." T-54 said, her feelings were pushed back into the back of her mind. "Say, why don't you tell us about your friends?"

* * *

><p>T-70 rushed down another bland hallway, this was starting to get really silly now; T-70 now got what T-34 meant when he said that the blue tank was 'Damn elusive'. T-70 was wasting another of his break times trying to find a tank that might not even be there any more. He didn't care though, it gave him something to do with his time other that worrying about... Wait... What <em>was <em>he worrying about earlier? Oh yeah... T-34 was in hospital or something like that and T-70 was worrying himself to bits.

Turning left and going down another hallway, T-70 happened upon another blue tank! Remembering what happened last time, T-70 kept his cool and asked him; "Excuse me, have you seen or known a... Small blue-green tank destroyer?" The blue tank thought for a second, turning its turret away from T-70 a bit. Turning back, he spoke.

"No, I have not, mister. I usually know about all the tanks at Tank Academy but that one... She is _very __sneaky_. All I know is that it's a she and that she usually hangs around that artillery... I think it was..." He paused for about a second, prompting T-70 to finish his sentence.

"Birch Gun, I think."

"Yes... That's it. Yeah, that's all I know. Sorry." He didn't seem apologetic. In fact, it seemed he was consumed by curiosity.

"Okay... I'll keep looking for her then." T-70 revved his engine and started to make his way past the blue tank, only to be stopped by him.

"Maybe I can help? A second view on the situation is always better than one." He asked diligently. T-70 weighed up his choices.

"Okay, I need to know your name though." T-70 said finally, he sounded much _much_ surer than he actually was though.

"Hotchkiss Thirty-Five, or just H35 for short." H35 answered proudly, as if he'd just won some sort of prize.

"khorosho... Let's go." T-70 spoke before starting to drive off. H35 followed closely.

"What did that mean?" He asked quietly.

"What did what mean?" T-70 then realised what H35 meant. "Oh... The Russian I just spoke?"

"Yeah, What did it mean?"

"I think it translates into 'Well' or 'Okay' or something like that... I didn't really mean to say it in my mother tongue, but I can't help sometimes."

"Yeah... I do that too some-"

Suddenly, the two tanks bumped into a fairly large light tank. It made a noise similar to a squeak, before spinning around and driving off. It was so desperate to get away it tore away some of the carefully made flooring, making a perfect trail around a corner. Following it, T-70 and H35 found themselves in the presence of a flower pot. Which had a tank behind it. Who was quivering as if it was being slammed into by an earthquake. Realising that it had been spotted, it whimpered and started retreating into the nearest corner. "P-p-p-please d-don't hurt me..." he says quietly, voice quivering almost as much his hull was. H35 started driving towards the scared light tank, which was pretty much in tears now. H35 beamed with purpose

"Hey, look at me." H35 said, his voice a soft as silk. The frightened tank hesitated at first, before pointing his gun at H35. "My friend and I," He gestured towards T-70. "are _not_ going to do anything irrational or hurt you or anything."

"R-really?" He stopped shaking a little, which was a start.

"Yep. I swear." H35 proceeded to move a little closer. "Can you tell me your name?"

"A-20... What is yours?"

"H35. My friend here is called T-70" Immediately after being mentioned, T-70 rolled forward.

"Okay..." The nervousness of the A-20's voice was nearly eradicated; he saw that his new acquaintances were never a threat to begin with. "Um... Can I follow you guys?"

"There's no reason to say no." T-70 piped up, having another member on his 'team' might help him in his search.

"Maybe we could go to the field?" Asked H35. "Maybe we can learn more about each other!"

"Why not?" T-70 had already scoured the field, but maybe his love interest would be there this time!

After manoeuvring through the winding halls, they made it. H35, A-20 and T-70 rolled outside into the free world of the outside. They were no longer contained by the mind-shredding maze that is Tank Academy, but they were in the welcoming warmth of sunlight. They drove themselves through a few groups of random tanks, finally making it to the field. The sight of tanks _not_ trying to murder their peers was a very rare sight indeed, due to the fact that half the tanks at the academy ignore the 'no proper ammunition' rule rather often. Actually, they ignore it _all the damn time. _

"Well... We're here now..." T-70 started awkwardly, he was never one for initiating conversations. H35 looked at him and sighed, realizing that his new friends were about as good at starting conversations as drunken socially awkward mutes. He was about to speak before A-20 piped up.

"I've seen a new p-painting that was hung up in STA-1's classroom; it was really cool!" T-70 hadn't seen such a painting before. In fact, he had not even been close to the art classroom for the last week or so.

"What was it like?" T-70 asked.

"I-it was like... A-a big heavy tank mashing a bunch of other tanks and bouncing shots off of its armour like they were machine gun bullets!" A-20 almost giggled with delight as he answered with near glee.

"I saw it as well. I thought it was really good too." H35 added quietly, almost as if he was I shock due to A-20's outburst.

"Wow, I should probably get a look at this wonder painting..." T-70 commented.

Then T-70 thought of something he didn't like. He thought that he wouldn't be able to remain in contact with either group of friends without working himself to death. Maybe he'd have to abandon one group of friends to be with the other? How would this work out? He'd have to choose between M5A1 Stuart and T-34 or A-20 and H35 and that wouldn't be fun... Whatever. T-70 would just relax and enjoy the strange peace at Tank Academy.

* * *

><p>M5A1 Stuart was going fast. Really fast. She was on a mission and she was nearly where she needed to be. She nearly drifted around a corner because of her intense speed, hurrying herself to her very limit. Going quickly down another hallway, M5A1 Stuart quickly formulated a map of the school in her mind. Oh no. She went down the wrong hallway! What an <em>idiot!<em> No matter, she'll just take a right when she gets to the end of the hallway.

Well, she WAS going to do that until she slammed into a cream-coloured tank. _Okay, THAT'S IT. I've had enough!_ M5A1 Stuart had rammed into no-one else but that _damned _Birch Gun! She turned her turret, beaming with fury. The artillery's gun shield irritated her even more. At this rate, that Birch Gun is probably going to end up getting shot out of KV-2s gun into a lake. That would be filled with metal-eating piranhas.

"You're a bastard, you stupid tea drinking twit!" She was absolutely livid. Well, she was usually livid but now M5A1 Stuart was _the_ embodiment of pure _rage_. She was about to fire off her gun, right into the hull of the artillery but then she realized that she had no ammo! No matter to M5A1 Stuart, though. She started to blow the artillery to smithereens with constant insults and expletives, with mean comment to even more mean comment to ridiculously mean comment.

With every spiteful word, M5A1 Stuart noticed the frail artillery recoil, easily being overpowered by her harsh language. The Birch Gun started to reverse backwards and M5A1 Stuart caught on. She reversed herself a little bit, then hurling herself at Birch Gun. She collided with the arty with a resounding SMASH! Reversing again, even more this time, M5A1 Stuart got ready to ram into Birch Gun again. She accelerated furiously, then all of a sudden, she was spinning out. M5A1 Stuart realized what had happened when she felt a pang of pain from her track.

_Oh no... _Sense flooded her system when she slid to a stop. _What am I thinking? Why would I ever go against an artillery on my own without any ammo?_ M5A1 Stuart was then petrified when she whirled her turret around to see another tank. From the looks of it, it was a tank destroyer, a _big_ one.

It was quite rusty as well. Horrified, M5A1 Stuart was certain she was going to die. Or at least get crippled and left for dead. Or shot into outer space.

M5A1 Stuart heard a deep and loud yell and immediately felt better and worse. She knew exactly who it was. A large figure lumbered behind the rust-mobile. "Break it up!" He bellows, M5A1 Stuart cooked up a plan. It wasn't likely that it'd work, but she'd try. "M5A1 Stuart, what are you doing?" M5A1 Stuart readied her 'Innocent' voice.

"Please, Mr. SU-152! The artillery and the big rusty gun thing attacked me!" She assumed that Mr. SU-152 was not watching the fight.

"No... Um..." Dammit, M5A1 Stuart failed at lying again. _I'm so grateful that I was born with a complete incapability of lying... _She thought angrily. "You rammed into Birch Gun and then you started to get angry at him, swearing at him. After, you began to ram him; unbeknownst to you, Churchill Gun Carrier came to Birch Gun's rescue. It was a nice thought, but you should have come to talk to a teacher."

M5A1 Stuart decided to quickly repair her track to make a quick escape. She started to hurry herself away before Mr. SU-152 sent a shell into her tracks, sending her spinning out again. _I have it now..._ She thought to herself while also thinking of what to say next while Mr. SU-152 dragged himself over. He said something to rusty nails before driving over to M5A1 Stuart. He clamped M5A1 Stuart's working track before taking her away. She saw the two 'freaks' start talking to each-other before losing sight of them. Sooner rather than later M5A1 Stuart found herself in Mr. SU-152's office.

"M5A1 Stuart, I _told_ you not to get into fights with other tanks!" He started angrily. _It begins..._ M5A1 Stuart prepared herself for the onslaught of words about to be hurled at her. "What do you do? Get into fights! Constantly! This is just getting silly now, I thought you _respected_ the rules of the school!" He waited for a response, M5A1 Stuart took her chance.

"But sir..." M5A1 Stuart tried again to weasel out of trouble, with something fairly compelling. "That artillery thing has been since he got here!" The 'Innocent' voice came back again, this time with the power of adorable overload. He hesitated for a bit, before regaining his composure

"Look, I know what you're like, especially with tanks that get reputation quickly throughout the school." He spoke softly this time, with a hard edge of calculating. "Just. Stay. Out. Of. Trouble. Okay? Are we clear? M5A1 Stuart responded with a sharp nod of her gun, she was quite surprised that Mr. SU-152 didn't go on for longer than he did. Maybe he was tired? Maybe he was just fed up with M5A1's behaviour? No matter to her though, she was let go rather quickly and she rolled off.

**Author's note: Wow, I never thought I'd get this finished... It's been like two months since I last updated any of my stories, so I spent one of the months slowly writing the chapter, putting it off constantly and getting back to it to write a few sentences in an awful loop of time consumption. At least it's done.**


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